Perception Psychology (4)
June 4, 2009 – 1:56 amAll these theories notwithstanding, the innate predisposition of the eye to move from left to right is undeniable. It is palpable. You can feel it yourself as you scan this very page or any of the illustrations in this book.
In my days in television, I incorporated this preference in how I directed subjects and cameras. Next time you watch a well-directed movie or television drama, notice how the characters move across the screen. Most often, the sympathetic characters, the heroes and heroines with whom the audience identifies, move from the left side of the screen toward the right, flowing with the natural movement of the eye. By contrast, the unsympathetic characters, the villains whom the audience dislikes, move from right to left, fighting against the eye’s natural flow.
Even when the characters are stationary, the movement of the camera can convey the same feelings: A pan right is smooth; a pan left drags. Very subtly, these differences fuel the audience’s emotional reaction to the drama, helping them to think and feel the way the actors, director, and writer intended.
Director Sam Mendes used these techniques to powerful effect in the Tom Hanks/Paul Newman film, The Road to Perdition. In the opening scene, we see a city street in the Depression era crowded with pedestrians, most of them moving from left to right. Then a young boy on a bicycle enters, pedaling from right to left, against the grain. The boy is Tom Hanks’ son, whose difficulties form the central part of the story. From the outset, these powerful cinematic dynamics set the foreboding tone for the entire film.
Taken From : Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story
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